16/ MAY 2020 THE RIDER


Ontario Cutting Horse Association will be adding a new class.


MAKING THE CUT CONTEST RULES


Ontario Cutting Horse Association Visit us at: www.ontariocuttinghorseassociation.com


Executive Directors: President


Vice-President Secretary/Treasurer


Katherine Van Boekel 519-983-0156 kelarouche@gmail.com Amanda Law Greg Gallagher Tyler Scott Joe Hudon


Directors: Shawn Minshall


Scott Reed


Eric Van Boekel Laurie Reed


905-864-5312 scott_reed_farm@hotmail.com 519-879-6699 thehappyhoggers@execulink.com 416-420-9147 laurie_reed_farm@hotmail.com


519-855-6602 minshall@minshallholdings.com 613-200-1235 amandalaw@live.com


905-648-2242 greg@gallagherstables.net 613-264-7250 519-835-0841


NCHA Area 21 Director Scott Reed


Media & The Rider Submissions Amanda Law, Laurie Reed & Lexie Reed - amabdalaw@live.com OCHA Website:


Newsletter: Laurie Reed


Don Crawford dwc@dc2graphics.com Eric Van Boekel


Please direct mail to our treasurer: Laurie Reed


1642 Concession 5, Waterford, Ontario N0E 1Y0


905-864-5312 scott_reed_farm@hotmail.com 519-879-6699 thehappyhoggers@execulink.com


416-420-9147 laurie_reed_farm@hotmail.com


gle cow and having it come to a complete stop in the box while separated from all other cows and the herd. 1 additional point will be earned for accom-


cow and having it enter the box while separated from all other cows and the herd. 2 points will be earned for separating a sin-


etly entering the body the herd and shaping your cow. Credit will be given to the cutter who cuts a different cow each time they cut a cow. 1 point will be earned for separating a single


a score of 70 points. A minus check plus, will be given for qui-


Objective: To enter the herd and separate two or three cows in a two minute working time and have the cow enter the box marked on arena floor sep- arate from all other cows and the herd. The con- testant may be assisted by two herd holders and two turn back men. Each contestant will cross the timeline with


plishing either of the above on a deep cut.


3 points will be earned by any contestant that com- petes with one hand on the reins through out the class.


Penalties: 1 point will be lost for noise directed at the cattle by the contestant 3 points will be lost for failure to make a deep cut in the two minutes allotted. 3 points will be lost for running into or scattering the herd 5 points will be lost for changing cows after a spe- cific commitment has been made to a single cow. 5 point will be lost for failure to separate a single cow after leaving the body of the herd.


Cost: $30.00 Judge: Judge appointed by NCHA Directors


Eligibility: Rider must have $1000.00 or less in NCHA earnings Payout: 0


How To Run A Feed Business Through A Pandemic


By Karen Dallimore Two months ago, if you’d told Paul Sharpe that he’d be writing


a weekly e-mail to his staff to check in with them and keep up morale, he’d have told you that was crazy. And yet, here he is, doing what needs to be done to deal with a pandemic that no one could even imagine. Paul is the Grain Elevator and Feed Manager at family-owned


Sharpe Farm Supplies. They have eight stores in Ontario and supply another 52 businesses out of their warehouse north of Guelph, with 100 employees, twenty trucks and two trailers on the road. Two months before the shutdown they started work on an e-


commerce store to support the physical stores. Paul wishes he’d started sooner and although the plans are still in the works it’s not


something that can be put together easily. Meanwhile, as the provider of an essential service, he had to


make plans to keep the ‘bricks and mortar’ business running, doing what needs to be done to keep customers and employees safe. The stores are physically closed to customers right now but


they’re still open for business. For some customers, dockside pickup has become the norm to minimize interactions between customers and staff. This means calling in, giving payment by credit card, and picking up your own order from the loading dock. This also means an inevitable increase in phone calls, more processing time, and “not as good a shopping experience,” admits Paul. On the farm delivery side, Sharpe’s has increased the minimum


order, asking his customers to increase their inventory to decrease the exposure of their drivers. For some, this hasn’t been an easy ask, but it was necessary. Inside the massive warehouse there are now two distinct shifts


with an hour clearance time in between. Each employee is asked to disinfect their own equipment so they know it’s done to their stan- dards. Paul explained that by having two distinct shifts, if one shift gets shut down by COVID-19 restrictions, the other shift can still keep going. The same applies for his bulk order desk: half of the em- ployees are at home, half are physically in the stores, just in case. Have people been hoarding? Paul says no, he won’t let them.


Looking at different categories, he has noticed that sales of pet food and bird seed are up, in part because of new customers preferring to shop at smaller stores. Fencing supply sales are up, so are mulch and garden supplies. Equine supplements and liniments have dropped off, mostly reflecting a horse racing sector dial-back. Sales of im- pulse items, like dog toys, have tanked. On the supply side, everything is still available but sometimes


harder to find. Prices on US products have risen around 10 percent due to the weak Canadian dollar. Shavings, a by-product of lumber milling, are more expensive due to a near halt in the building indus- try.


Feed ingredients are have also become more expensive. Wheat


middlings – a by-product of flour milling – have been affected by a slow-down in processing. It’s not that the product isn’t available, it’s that the mills are now having to bag flour in 2kg bags for home use instead of selling it in bulk to commercial customers for donuts and hamburger buns. This, in-turn, slows the process and increases the price. Distiller’s grains, a feed ingredient that is a by-product of ethanol production, are also up in price as ethanol plants scale back by half. Overall, the result will be a price increase of one to two dol- lars a bag. As for alcohol, glycerin and aloe to make hand sanitizer, they’re


going through it like crazy, making their own to keep in stores, trucks and tractors, as well as supplying alcohol to a large meat packing plant. So far, they’ve managed to keep it in stock. They’ve also man- aged to keep gloves on the shelves and enough PPE for staff.


Sell your Farm Property in The Rider’s Real Estate Pages! “At the end of the day you want to work with the people who


have supported you.” After 25 years of servicing the horse industry, Paul wants to help his customers through this as best he can. He’s offered a ‘buy six, get one free’ deal on four main feeds and hay cubes through April, May and June and he’s hopeful to open the stores again in a few weeks with strict rules for staff and customers. Dockside pickup will still be available as we re-adjust to a new nor- mal.


“There’s no playbook for what we’re going through. We’re


going to make mistakes but we’re going to make decisions with the information we know,” said Paul. “We’re not complacent, we’re comfortable. Those are two completely different words.”


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